Buayan

Articles Tagged with: Buayan

22 September, 2016

Bio-cultural heritage is unending

What can you do in 4 years; finish a degree or perhaps send your kid to school? Dissolva and Arkitrek go back 4 years and Dissolva and the community in Kampung Buayan go back 5 years! Dr. Shinobu from Gakushuin University Tokyo, the coordinator of the Dissolva programme, knows this remote corner of Borneo like her own village. Her goal is to support Kampung Buayan in maintaining their Bio-cultural heritage is unending.

This year the Japanese Dissolva students worked at the Bio-cultural Heritage Centre. They dug a leach field, renovated the office, finished the library and made a plant nursery. Aside from that, the students also learned about collecting vegetables, fishing, preparing the chicken and cooking.

The leach field idea was first proposed in 2013 by the Arkitrek Design-Build group from Edinburgh. Finally, the time and budget was right to build a small drain field to serve the one toilet. We had 3 trenches at about 2.5m long for each. On top of it we had vegetable beds where villagers will plant chillis, spring onions and ‘sayur manis’ aka local sweet green vegetables.

The renovated office provided an enclosed room so the villagers could stop being worried on keeping important documents, especially ones that they did during the Ulu-Papar Bio-Cultural research with the Global Diversity Foundation. Thus, all those documents were at last brought out of storage in one of the villager’s house and secured in the Heritage Centre.

The Bio-Cultural Heritage Centre certainly has a special place in our heart and no doubt to many Arkitrekkers. This year Arkitrek brokered a new connection: for a plant nursery project, we were excited to introduce KOPEL, (Koperasi Pelancongan Batu Puteh), a community ecotourism co-orperative based in Batu Puteh, Sandakan. Their knowledge for community ecotourism and expertise in forest restoration is helpful for the community in Buayan.

By establishing the contact with KOPEL, the community in Buayan could take initiative to learn more from them about eco-tourism and protecting their forest, and they now have a fully functioning Heritage Centre from which to benefit.

25 July, 2016

Indicators of Social Impact in Architectural Practice

If you are an organisation with a stated social objective, then it’s reasonable to be asked to report how effective you are at meeting your objective. In a previous article we looked at some indicators that Arkitrek uses to report social impacts in architectural design. This article looks at the social impacts of how we do business, considering who we work for / who we do not work for, our staff welfare and our business philosophy.

Arkitrek has always only worked with clients who match our own social objective. This means that our design can amplify the impacts that our clients are making, which is significant because often our clients have potential to make a much bigger impact than us. Take for example, Borneo Rainforest Lodge (BRL). The income generated by BRL is a powerful argument for conservation of lowland tropical rainforest. BRL will be successful, not only because they have a location of extraordinary eco-tourism value, but also through the comfort and experience that architecture can provide for their guests.

Borneo Rainforest Lodge, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre and SAFE project are all directly impacting nature conservation through tourism, wildlife conservation and ecological research, respectively.

Nanga Sumpa Lodge and Tinangol Community Centre are both good example of environmental and social impacts created through community based tourism.

Key clients of Arkitrek have always been rural communities, particularly those with potential for responsible stewardship of their bio-cultural heritage for example: sustainable management of fish and timber stock and using agricultural practices that conserve soil where it is useful, on the ground, rather than letting it pollute rivers.

BRL makes a good case study, but what is much more instructive is looking at clients that we have broken it off with. Choosing a client is like choosing a new romantic partner: they can often start off very rosy but end with dissatisfaction on both sides. Arkitrek has been around for long enough to have gone through a few break-ups. The following examples are all real, but they have been given a code name.

‘Mango Tree’ was a resort project proposed for a small inhabited island. The client’s view was that the inhabitants were not compatible with tourism development and she told them that they had to move, justifying her action with compensation payments. This is not to say that communities should never be moved to make way for tourism, but if they are to be asked to move then they should be allowed to give their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). FPIC is an international protocol and was not followed in this case, making the project a non-starter for Arkitrek.

‘Alocasia’ was a project for a wildlife sanctuary, which on first impression seemed a good match for our philosophy. On closer inspection it had some problems: The first was that the client had a big budget for buying land for conservation. Apparently, their land acquisition strategy had the effect of pushing up land prices, which restricted the total amount of land that they, or other NGO’s, could buy for conservation. Secondly, they did not consult local communities on their plans, which resulted in conflict. We did not take this job because it was limiting the potential for nature conservation.

Fido was a boutique homestay project. The client came to me with a compelling and beautifully articulated social mission linked to the revenue generating homestay. She wanted the buildings to be a showcase for eco-design and sustainable living, so she said. Unfortunately after a year-long relationship she finally admitted “I want to be green, Ian, but not that green”

Moto was an easy project to turn down. The client wanted to over-develop his beach land in a way that would have completely ruined the natural beauty of the site, which was his unique selling point.

Finally the Me, Me, Me! Or MeMeme. We’ve had a few of these clients and they are often from our own impact sector. These clients believe that their own impacts or mission is so important that everyone else should work for them for free. Working for free is rarely going to help your social enterprise to survive and create sustainable impacts. What’s more, by working for free you may be depriving someone else of work, creating a negative social impact. More about this in The Arkitrek Guide to Working for Free

Arkitrek founder, Ian Hall, found business inspiration in Yvon Choinard’s book, ‘let my people go surfing’. Here, Choinard questions the concept of ‘sustainable economic growth’, blaming the degradation of natural systems that sustain life on earth solely on our drive for endless growth.

If Arkitrek designs buildings to conserve nature; then the way that we want to do business is to displace the need for endless growth that destroys nature. Social entrepreneurship may help to do this, by balancing the imperative to return money to private shareholders with the imperative to create opportunities for a wider community. In this way creating social gains rather than private gains.

Choinard’s philosophy of ‘let my people go surfing’ is indicative of a social impact culture within the company itself. Staff training and welfare are at the heart of a Social Enterprise. Above, the Arkitrek team is being trained in ‘stick twirling’ by our intern and sensei, Chris. The synergy here is attracting and retaining the staff who have most to offer, supporting their personal development and giving meaningful employment and a decent salary.

Whether freezing on the Greenland ice cap or sweating in the Bornean jungle, it’s easy to feel how small and fragile is our place in the world and what enormous social impact can be created by the changing of natural systems. We’re well enough informed to know some of the impacts of loosing either the rainforest or the ice cap and yet what difference can we possibly make? Rather than being intimidated, we can use the beauty of nature as inspiration, to remind us to keep asking difficult questions and looking for hidden connections, and remember that some things can only be valued in units of wonder.

29 May, 2016

Everyone seems like they have been choreographed

I have always admired Japan for their crafts. My mum had this Japanese tailoring book that I used to look at. They are very detailed, the Japanese. Just look at the stuff that Daiso sells, they have things that will make you think “Who has the time to think about inventing this?” right?

Thanks to Dissolva group, I had a chance visiting Tokyo, Japan. Inside I was jumping with excitement about visiting one of the most popular cities the worlds. Oh and I now understand what it means by ‘most populated’. This become clear to me on one morning in Shinjuku station. Everyone seems like they have been choreographed. They flowed organically, no stumbling, they just know where to make a turn and where to make a line.

Out from the station, walking on the street I feels like I’m looking at a magazine. On a page where an artist has put a rendered illustration of a building and the context is where people wearing suits are walking, a cyclist passes them, the trees are well maintained with flower beds around the bottom and at some corner you have a seating area with group of youngsters chatting. It’s very pretty. Detail design is everywhere: the curbs, the floor finishes, entrances of the shops and the bollards and fences.

Just walking the short distance from Shinjuku to Harajuku, feels like Japan has collected everything in the world. From food to clothing to toys to electronic, just everything. And building wise, I pass Disney Store building, a corner that has Alice in Wonderland door, a building that remind me of Pompidou Centre and something that look like the Bird Nest Stadium, to name a few.

The trip is actually a knowledge-exchange programme. I went with four representative from Buayan village, Ulu Papar. In all our activities and the places we visited we reflected on a question: “how Buayan can learn from this?” We visited Sagami Dam Lake, the first man-made Dam reservoir in Japan, and listened to the story given by one of the descendent whose family were instructed to leave their village so the government can build the lake and the dam. We then went to Fujino village. Also known as Fujino Art Village. A village that was built along the Segami river and has now been turned into an art village in order to revitalize the place. The village is now self-sustaining with a solar and tourism industry. The group also went trekking at Mount Kagenobo and perhaps the experience can be related to trekking Salt Trail in Ulu Papar. So, how can I learn from this?

Japan to me is fascinating. It is a develop country with a beautiful landscape and high technology, but it is somehow rather a quiet one. Say you put all the countries in a classroom, I think Japan is the quiet geek who is a bit reserved and very shy. I’ve been to only some parts of Tokyo, it’s not enough. There’s more to learn about them, more places to explore, more food to try out, more buildings to see, more details to look at. Many many more. Next time!

14 September, 2015

Buayan: A Story of Serendipity

Buayan is situated in the Crocker Range Biosphere Reserve and is on the famous Salt Trail route which makes it a huge potential to be developed into a tourist attraction. The idea of a homestay and tourist visiting is not an uncommon occurrence to the community in Buayan. However, the Bio-Cultural Centre aims to further enhance Buayan as a favorable tourism destination which offers not only beautiful nature sights and scene but also the chance to learn the local’s culture. The centre serves as a place for Buayan and its surrounding communities to gather, perform, practice, learn and share their cultures with each other and also visitors.

Back in 2013, Arkitrek first collaborated with the Global Diversity Foundation and a team of design students from Edinburgh, UK to design and build a Bio-Cultural Centre. The team came up with the perfect design for the centre and got to work immediately with the construction of the building.

At the end of their 6 weeks, they had designed and built the entirety of the super-structure alongside some additional fun details which includes the bamboo peep wall, earthbag formed concrete amphitheatre and a floating bamboo staircase. Because of some tough challenges they had faced along the way, the project was not completed on time and were left in the hands of the community and other future volunteers to carry on the construction work.

That same year, a group of young enthusiastic Malaysian volunteers supervised by Arkitrekker Tom Henderson-Schwartz and Nadhira then took on the project by constructing the walls of the Bio-Cultural Heritage Centre while the village men continue with the roof. The team also managed to lay almost the entirety of the building with the treated bamboo for the floor which was another great addition to the building’s progress.

The following year, another group of volunteers known as Dissolva, a group of students from Gakushuin University, Japan visited Buayan to help out with the construction of the Bio-Cultural Heritage Centre. They were supervised by Arkitrekker Nurfilzah Jamjam. During their stay at Buayan, they helped to build a toilet, plaster the Biocrete walls and weave bamboo window/wall panels for the building. Though they had no experience with the work, they were able to get the job done and accomplished a lot.

Just recently, another Dissolva team visited Buayan to carry out volunteer work to construct the Bio-Cultural Heritage Centre and it was lovely that Arkitrek was given another opportunity to collaborate with them again. The 10 day programme that consisted of workshops, presentations and building work with the group went smoothly and resulted in satisfactory completion of the Bio-Cultural Heritage Centre.

Filzah, who has been handling the project for over two years now has seen how the project progressed since the time it was only a conceptual idea. She said, “It is such a warm feeling to see the community using the building fully. They talk about organising a weaving workshop, putting up the history information board with pictures and the craft work.”

Having to see a project bud from the ground until its completion is always such a rewarding experience for an Arkitrekker but what is most fulfilling is having the opportunity to form lasting friendships along the way with the communities Arkitrek works with and knowing that the project will benefit them in the long-run. Not only that, but Filzah also mentioned how the project has taught her a lot and motivated her into staying in the architecture field.

“I now wonder what if the project had finished as planned two year ago instead? Would I still feel the same? Would I come back to work here in Arkitrek? Would Tom do a different dissertation paper?” were just some of the questions that loomed above Filzah’s head at the aftermath of the project’s success. Let’s just say that maybe the delay of our Bio-Cultural Heritage Centre project was Filzah’s ‘serendipity’.

Many thanks to all who in one way or another were involved in this project! It’s safe to say all efforts big or small definitely paid off- Even if it took 3 years to complete, it was all worth the time 🙂

17 November, 2014

7 Lessons in (design/build) Architecture

By Thomas Henderson-Schwartz

It has now been over a year since I first embarked upon the Design and Build of the bio-cultural heritage centre with the team Lewis and I had formed from Edinburgh University and Filzah. I spent a total of 8 months living in Kampung Buayan, which changed my outlook on not only architecture and design, but my life. I put together a talk, reflecting on my time in Buayan and the things I learnt about the design build process, which can be found on Youtube

Here is a summary of the “7 Lessons Learned” that I used to organise the lecture.

Lesson 1: Leave your ego at the airport

Working in a team is hard. Working in a team of design students, all with their own ideas, motivations, experiences and egos is really, really hard. When coming up with an idea for a project and then presenting it to the team you need to try your best to distance yourself from what was your initial idea. Once that sketch concept has been explained and everyone gets it then you have finished that role. Your next role is now to make connections between all the contributions from the team and see which ideas work well together and which combination will form the best whole. Maybe something you initially proposed will make it through, but maybe not as you first imagined it. Or maybe nothing you first proposed got into the design but you saw a connection between a couple of other things that were proposed and improved them by combining them. This is still design!! Make sure your individual contribution is about negotiating the whole rather than forcing a tacking on of “your idea”.

Lesson 2: Builders are smarter than those dumb architects!!!

In the lecture I relate this specifically to looking at what local builders have done in terms of things like jointing and dimensions of things. In the Buayan project the initial design failed to address the strong driving rain that exists in the rainforest. The overhangs were not sufficient to keep the heavy rain out. Had we looked more carefully at the local buildings we would have quickly noticed how large the overhangs were and could have avoided this mistake.

Lesson 3: Nature is stronger than those weak architects!!!

This is about looking after your materials. Particularly in the context of the rainforest things have a tendency to rot and really fast. Make sure you look after your materials and take into account the sequence of assembly. How long will it take to get a roof over those exposed trusses? Could we build things in stages so that we can treat materials on a rolling basis etc… In Buayan we had a lot of wood in the system which has since needed to be strengthened or replaced.

Lesson 4: Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it might on bamboo….

Money on design and build projects is generally tight! They often end up being design and build projects to offset the cost of hiring professional labour. First of all be aware how much money you have and how much things cost. You will be surprised by how quickly budgets spiral out of control with simple things like paying for transport of materials to site (for the Buayan project I estimate this accounted for at least 20% of the total construction cost!). However we managed to start to re-coup some of this overspend by setting up the Build-cation programme, providing skills workshops (such as bamboo furniture making) to interested people, run by the local villagers. Not only did this have the benefit of bringing money in for the project but it also started to engage with the projects primary purpose of promoting the cultural heritage and biodiversity of the region.

Lesson 5: Mixing Child Labour, Alcohol and Construction is not always bad?

Community participation is a long term investment of time and effort. Trying to get help on site was probably one of the most challenging aspects of my time in Buayan. Instead of trying to do everything by yourself for a day with no help, go find some of the local guys and have a drink with them. By becoming their friends and a part of the community, you will find that people are much more likely to come and help you out the next day.

Health and safety on site is also a massive head-ache for the western design-builder; used to helmets and barriers and not having kids running around barefoot or having drunken teenagers as labourers. There is no easy answer but if you are in charge: find your own line of acceptable risk. I made a rule, for example, that if you were drunk you weren’t allowed to work on the roof (the job which for some reason unknown to me seemed to hold the most glory or just general fun). Getting the young kids involved with simple tasks such as collecting stones or picking up rubbish I also hoped would give them a greater sense of pride in the building and encourage them to look after it for years to come.

Lesson 6: Mistakes are ok (scratch that) – important!!

If it is your first design-build project then making mistakes is going to be expected. If it is your tenth design-build project then mistakes are still be expected. It is because we are human, and because circumstances change and because (particularly in the jungle environment) you can’t control everything. One major mistake we made when designing the bio-cultural heritage centre was not considering the bracing. All our walls were off the structural grid making it very difficult to brace the building without destroying the internal layout. We came up with a solution which was to create diamond shaped fixes on the intersection between the posts and beams. These will later be clad in bamboo panels representing the villages of the region. The point here is not that despite coming up with quite a poetic solution we were right not to consider the bracing earlier, but that all mistakes are solvable and that in finding solutions you are actually learning.

Lesson 7: Real architects cry

My final point relates to a soppy story which I go into a bit more detail in the lecture. Basically architects should not only understand their clients but also care for them. In doing so I believe better architecture results and the process of designing and constructing become a part of the building and creates a narrative from which the end users can start to add to with their occupation. All in all my time in Buayan was an unforgettable experience and I feel I’ve left a little piece of me behind….

Thomas Henderson Schwartz

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